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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26972851">Lost and found</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeldaElmo/pseuds/ZeldaElmo'>ZeldaElmo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>But mostly fluff, F/M, Fluff with a little bit of angst, zelink</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:08:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,685</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26972851</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeldaElmo/pseuds/ZeldaElmo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On their way to Hateno Village after their victory against Ganon, Link and Zelda have to pass Blatchery Plain. Link wants to avoid the place, where he nearly died, but Zelda has another idea.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>87</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Lost and found</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffGirl95"> HufflepuffGirl95</a> for looking this over for me!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As they crossed Big Twin Bridge Link shifted in his saddle and rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen the soaked fabric of his tunic from his back. His hood had long ago soaked through with rain and it ran down his neck in uncomfortably cold rivulets. And if the shivering was any hint at all, Zelda, seated in front of him on his horse, wasn’t fairing any better. She wore her father’s way too large warm doublet. But as warm as it was, it did little against the driving rain. He grimaced when he imagined, how cold she must be under the layers of soaked clothes she currently wore.<br/>
Of course, he had prepared himself in the minutest details for the battle with Ganon: stocking up his ancient arrows, cooking countless meals with special effects, and brewing elixir after elixir. He had stored every piece armor in his possession in the slate, unsure which might be helpful. Even a pot lid and a soup ladle had found its way in his storage, because, well, you never know. He wouldn’t fail her again.<br/>
What he had clearly not anticipated was that Zelda would still be wearing her white ceremonial dress, that she had worn on Mt. Lanayru all those years ago. He could have face-palmed when they had begun discussing their next steps. After the first few minutes of silence after their victory, she had rubbed her hands over her bare arms in the evening chill. What had he thought? That she had a whole wardrobe inside of Calamity Ganon?! When they stopped for the night at Riverside Stable he left his stuff for her to choose what might fit her to put on after her bath.<br/>
He had daydreamed so often about when they would be together again when his memories had slowly come back. However, he had been completely unprepared for seeing her in his sand boots and his Hylian tunic, twirling around, looking at him through her lashes, and asking ‘how do I look?’. It had left him with the nearly unbearable urge to catch her in his arms and press a kiss to her forehead; pulling her close to his heart where she belonged.<br/>
He hadn’t, of course. That they were in a public stable was only one of the reasons. Although Kass had been quite frank about her feelings towards him in his songs, he hadn’t wanted to assume anything. His source had been a jealous court poet, and who knew what else Kass had exaggerated in the name of poetry. Not only that, a hundred years was a long time and perhaps the realization that he had left her alone for an eternity let her love grow cold.<br/>
A shiver crawled down his spine that had nothing to do with the state of his clothes. The destroyed guardians of Blatchery Plain came into view and he held the reins tighter. He cleared his throat. “Princess? This will be the last opportunity to go onto Kakariko Village.”<br/>
She twisted her torso around to meet his gaze, eyes wide open. “Did… did you change your mind? If it makes you uncomfortable to give me shelter, we can of course go to Impa.” She swallowed visibly and looked down. “You’ve done enough already, Link. You have no obligation toward me anymore.”<br/>
“I didn’t invite you out of duty, princess. I would be honored if you accept my offer.” He said as he nodded stiffly, falling back on old habits. ‘You would make my house a home’ he didn’t say aloud.<br/>
“Oh.” The tension left her and her shoulders relaxed. “I can only repeat myself. I’d love to see your house.” A shy smile spread over her face. “You know, you always refused to show me your family home back then.”<br/>
He nodded again. It would have been highly inappropriate to take her home a century ago and perhaps it still was. But when she quietly admitted that she wasn’t ready for the Shiekah, not ready to resume her duty just yet, he had suggested, what came to his mind. Perhaps the flush of victory had made him bold. Perhaps seeing her in the flesh, and not just in his memory had made him want. But all the same, he had offered to take her to his house in Hateno Village.<br/>
They had now passed the Dueling Peak Stable and he was glad that his horse stayed on the path without his guidance. His vision began to swim. His breath came fast. And his pulse was pounding in his ears, as always, when he neared the place. The place he had failed her. Where he had failed her and the entire kingdom.<br/>
<em>The clicking sound of their legs, metal on metal, where they rushed over their broken fellows he had already killed, screamed in his ears. So many. There were so many and the sword, it was so heavy. He couldn’t let them get her. They were everywhere, hunting, searching for them, the swirling sound of their eyes looking for nothing but them.</em><br/>
Dimly, he felt her worm her feet in the stirrups, right next to his.<br/>
<em>Another one. He dragged himself up. Don’t you dare to aim at her, you traitor, she’s loved you so much. Sacrificed so much for you!</em><br/>
Her wet scarf slid from her head and hit his cheek when she stood up. The wet slap brought him back out of the memory and he blinked; no wonder that he had had a flash-back. They were not on the path; she must have led them straight through the field.<br/>
She grabbed his hands and put them on her waist. “Link, can you hold onto me?”<br/>
He blinked again, drowsy from the haunting images, but tightened his grip instinctually. She clicked her tongue and his horse went faster. “Faster.” She whispered. “As fast as you can.”<br/>
Link opened his mouth but thought better of it. Whatever it was, it seemed to be important to her. He urged his mare in a gallop and held his princess in place, half standing up in front of him.<br/>
She let go of the reins and straightened up to a full stand. The raindrops falling on her forehead and her flushed cheeks. Raising her arms to her sides, palms up to the air, she leaned her head back and welcomed the rain. Link had difficulty seeing her now, because the strands of her wet hair slashed at his cheeks and he kept an eye on their mount too. His gaze flickered up to her in concern, when he felt her chest shaking and he half expected her to sob.<br/>
She didn’t sob.<br/>
She laughed.<br/>
A bell-like soft giggle left her mouth.<br/>
The brightness of that sound flowed through him like the rain had soaked his clothes. It turned the purple clouds grey again and the rain, the rain was nothing more than a warm summer rain anymore.<br/>
She laughed now, a quiet, earnest laughter and she was so <em>real</em> under his fingertips.<br/>
The weight of the world which had long settled from his shoulders to his heart suddenly lifted and took the corners of his mouth with it. He basked in the sound of her laughter, in the light that she radiated until he was all warm and cozy inside. He let the vibration of her joy shake him instead of the clicking, twirling, grinding sound of the long dead guardians. Until he matched her grin.<br/>
“Watch out!” he called out while laughing when he led his horse towards a fallen column. “We’re going for a jump now!”<br/>
She threw her hands up in the air, when they left the ground, a mixture of a shriek and a fit of laughter shaking her body. Still grinning, she let herself fall back in the saddle again, resting her back against his chest.<br/>
“We did it, Link.” She said in exuberance as she turned towards him, but the sudden earnestness in her eyes stole his breath away. “There will be time for grief, but don’t let him win <em>inside</em> of you. This place was a new beginning, not the end.”<br/>
“Thank you.” He breathed because there was nothing else that he could say.<br/>
This, this was what he had missed the most. Her vibrancy when the endless row of days and nights had blurred into one on his journey. Her impulsivity when the dim light and the soft music of the shrines had left him in a state of trance. Her passion when he had stared and stared in a campfire to let the time pass. She never failed to surprise him. One minute, she made a portentous analogy between an endangered flower and herself that formed a lump in his throat, only to attempt to feed him a frog in the next moment! And now, where he wanted to avoid all these looming symbols of destruction and stay on the path, she had led them straight through and killed them a second time with her laughter.<br/>
His heart swelled with pride for the woman in front of him, and he tried to inhale her scent through the still pouring rain.<br/>
“Link?” She asked with an amused tone in her voice.<br/>
Oh. <em>Oh</em>. His eyes widened. He had folded his arms around her waist and had buried his nose in her hair. Inch after inch, he separated them, his heart in his throat.<br/>
“My apologies, princess.” He swallowed. “I don’t know what came over me.”<br/>
“Don’t do that.” She said fiercely.<br/>
“W-what?” Pressing his eyes shut, he felt his heart stuttering for a second time on Blatchery Field.<br/>
She took his hands and wrapped them back to their place on her waist. Then, she leaned back and rubbed her nose at the base of his neck.<br/>
“Don’t you ever apologize again.”<br/>
He inhaled so deeply, that he feared that his lungs might burst. He exhaled with a shaky laugh and pulled her closer to him.<br/>
“Never.” He whispered in her ear, feeling her shiver in his arms.<br/>
This time, his heart resumed its pace on its own.</p>
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